Being we are about to wrap up 2011, we thought it might be fun to look back on the last two seasons of Dancing With The Stars to get your “favorite” and ‘best of” thoughts. As always, answer to your best ability or for whatever comes to mind first in the comments section. Also, try to answer with only one choice for most of these questions, but, you can name a few honorable mentions for each too if you want. Ok, let’s get started….

1. Taking into account the last two seasons of Dancing With The Stars in 2011, who do you think deserves an award for Top Female Pro?

2. From the last two seasons of Dancing With The Stars in 2011, who do you think deserves an award for Top Male Pro?

3. Now taking your top two picks from above, which pro deserves the Vanguard Professional Dancer Award for 2011?

4. Taking into account the last two seasons of Dancing With The Stars in 2011, who were your top 3 favorite couples? Rate them in order as well.

5. The celebrity dancer to surprise me the most in 2011 was ________________________.

6. The celebrity dancer to tug on my heart strings the most in 2011 was _________________________.

7. The Most “Entertaining” Celebrity Dancer of 2011 was ________________________.

8. The “Best” Celebrity Dancer of 2011 was _________________________.

Good luck! I’ll post my answers in the comments section. Thanks always for your fun participation and here’s to Dancing With The Stars in 2012. Happy New Year All! 😉 xxx

I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . For fun music and dance mixes, visit WilUnleashed Soundcloud. To view my photography site, see Lisa Kay Photography.

So the other day, we counted down the top 10 worst freestyles in DWTS history, and re-lived some of the biggest stinkers we’ve seen in 12 seasons. Today we’ve saved the best for last: the showstoppers, the jaw-droppers, and the dynamite freestyles that have set the bar for all the freestyles to follow. 🙂

Some patterns we’ve noticed: most of these routines are high-energy, use recognizable songs, and have either a theme or a general “feel” for the celebs to connect to. It’s a pattern that seems to work – let’s hope this season’s finalists stick to it!

Heidi’s Note: You’ll also note that you have a better shot of making this list if your name if Johnson, Hough, or Ballas. Possibly Schwimmer – she’s one for two, isn’t she??

10. Kyle Massey & Lacey Schwimmer, season 11

Courtney: This is a good example of a hip-hop freestyle actually working out well – basically the polar opposite of Lacey’s ill-fated hip-hop freestyle with Lance. This time around, the song & theme fit her partner to a T – Kyle LOVED “Tootsie Roll”, and it really showed. Now while the choreo wasn’t really all that complicated, it was the fact that Kyle just milked each step for all its worth that really made it fun – I swear, I think the only more charismatic contestant to ever do the show is Carson. 😛 Kyle had swaaaaaag, and was a true showman…and it didn’t hurt that he wasn’t too shabby a dancer, either.

Heidi: The thing that made this work was that it fit Kyle to a tee and he LOVED it. He was having the time of his life and he had the skills to pull off a hip hop routine. You combine that with some pretty clever choreography and you have a brilliant freestyle. He’d be much farther up on my list…but this is surprisingly hard to come up with and putting them in order? Impossible! Anyway, when I stand up off the couch and cheer, you know it’s good. And this one was also FUN in all caps. 🙂 Read more..

Last night, the 2011 Creative Arts Emmy Awards took place at the Nokia Theatre in Hollywood, CA. Dancing With The Stars was nominated in 7 catagories which included Outstanding Reality Series, Outstanding Reality Host-Tom Bergeron, Outstanding Choreography-Mark Ballas, Outstanding Hairstyling For A Single-Camera Series, Outstanding Lighting, Outstanding Makeup For A Multi-Camera Series Or Special, and Outstanding Technical Direction, Camerawork, Video Control For A Series. From the 7 nominations, the show picked up one Emmy for “Hairstyling For A Multi-Camera Series Or Special”.

As some of you know already from Twitter, Mark attended the awards with his Mom Shirley. Here they are gracing the Red Carpet. Shirley wore a killer black dress and Mark looked dashing as well in a black and white tux sporting a “Situation” type hairstyle.

Another Red carpet favorite last night was Season 13 Dancing With The Stars contestant, Chaz Bono and his girlfriend, Jennifer Elia. His documentary “Becoming Chaz” was nominated for 3 Emmy’s. According to his twitter it lost to “Gettysburg”.

Twenty-five other awards will be handed out at the LIVE Primetime Emmy Awards telecast on Fox next Sunday, September 18 (5-8 p.m. PT, 8-11 p.m. ET). Be sure to tune in if interested!!

I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . For fun music and dance mixes, visit WilUnleashed Soundcloud. To view my photography site, see Lisa Kay Photography.

So the addition of the troupe this past season did have one unexpected positive effect: even more costume dittos! Which makes my job a bit easier 😉 And I’m noticing the costume department has a special affinity for red – lots & lots of sparkly, red, fringy, feathery stuff… Read more..

Is this not some really happy news or what being this Tsunami survivor has been through so much?!! Season 12 Dancing With The Stars contestant and model Peta Nemcova is getting married to British actor Jamie Bellman. She sat down with The Telegraph to talk about her charity, the Happy Hearts Fund, and about the upcoming wedding which will be held in June 2012. Her wedding dress will be designed by Marchesa. More below. Congradulations Petra!!! One of the sweetest and most loving contestants ever to be on Dancing With The Stars!

I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . For fun music and dance mixes, visit WilUnleashed Soundcloud. To view my photography site, see Lisa Kay Photography.

Last night, Kirstie Alley was a guest on David Letterman. They played “Pretty Woman” for an introduction to her segment which I thought was cool and fitting for everything she’s been through with her weight issues and losing it. They start off talking about Dancing With The Stars. Kirstie said it was a lot of hard work, but fun. She also talks (jokes) of how she was mad and not really a good sport when she lost to Hines Ward. Dave also asks her about Maks and if they are dating. Kirstie said, “They have a great relationship that will last forever”. She also mentions how hard it was adjust to a regular life again after Dancing With The Stars. Because of this, she became a “clubber” in New York. She gives Dave an example of how people dance in clubs. LOL A must see if you missed it last night. The two are too funny as always. And doesn’t Kirstie look fantastic?

I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . For fun music and dance mixes, visit WilUnleashed Soundcloud. To view my photography site, see Lisa Kay Photography.

John: To be honest, I didn’t really enjoy any of Wendy’s or Kirstie’s dances really. I enjoyed their humor and their one liners. I just wasn’t a fan of their dancing at all. Even Kendra was a disappointment (we should have had an award for that). However, Wendy definitely takes the cake for worst dancer this season. Can you say awkward?

Vogue: Yeah, I picked Wendy too. She was not very good. Plus, her attitude was poor and egotistical. Poor Tony. I really felt sorry for him. Wendy wasn’t as bad as Kate Gosselin, but, at times I had to kind of wonder?

Courtney: The fact that Wendy thought she was hot sh*t, coupled with some very (IMO) kindergarten choreography is what made this dance so bad. She was barely moving, yet with all the bravado she was throwing around both before & after the dance, you would have thought she danced like Nicole Scherzinger. The hair, the makeup, the dress, the choreo, the attitude – blech. No wonder Wendy ran away with more than half the vote! Mike & Lacey’s foxtrot – ok, pretty bad, but it had a bit of a trainwreck appeal to it…and Mike was pretty damn lovable. Kirstie & Maks’ jive wasn’t the strongest technically, but it did have a pretty strong entertainment quality. I’m honestly surprised Kendra & Louis’ Viennese waltz didn’t get more votes – that was the dance that Kendra managed to somehow contort into some bizarre Mafia tribute, and she looked like a lost puppy the whole time. Oh – and it’s also the week she said she didn’t care about elegance 😛 I can’t really fault Ralph & Karina for their samba being tacky – what the hell are you supposed to do when you get “Sweet Home Alabama” as your music? But of course, the judges raked them across the coals for it – just like they did everything else this season. *sigh* I actually kinda liked Chelsea & Mark’s jive, but I agree that it was maybe a bit too “out there” to please the judges, and wasn’t proper jive technique; Romeo & Chelsie’s rumba was just a non-event. Perhaps the most interesting response in the write-in category: Chelsea & Mark’s freestyle. It’s interesting because the freestyles are almost universally popular with fans – but I have to agree that this one was a dud, and will probably go down in DWTS history as one of the worst…it just felt like such a cop-out to me. Just some routine that was thrown together, without any sort of connection to Chelsea. Some other responses: Ralph & Karina’s salsa (ok, not their best, but I don’t think it was worse than a lot of the dances above!), “Hinds” freestyle (I’m gonna assume you mean “Hines” :-)), Wendy & Tony’s quickstep (I actually thought this one was the most tolerable of their 3 bad dances…), and “anything by Chelsea (OVERRATED)” lol. While I think Chelsea was blatantly overscored more often than not, I did enjoy a few of her dances – namely her foxtrot & jive. Overall, I think the right dance won this category – it was the combination of bad costuming, bad choreo, bad execution, and bad attitude that made this one a champion. But are there REALLY any winners in this category? 😉

Marianya: Do we REALLY have to pick? I mean, I would have thought it be pretty obvious. Wendy! Since the other bloggers have already said everything that needed to be said in regards to this celeb… all I’m going to say to TPTB is this: please be nicer next time, someone like her is an easy way to turn off the TV.

Heidi: Wendy…worst dancer, biggest diva. And that’s just cray-cray. I quickly got to the point where I never wanted to see her face or hear her voice EVER again. That bit on the finale – I almost had turn the channel. 🙂 I would have, if it weren’t for the cheesecake awards. All for you people. 😉

Vogue: I have to say this was kind of lackluster Season for entertainment in my opinion. I was hoping for Katy Perry, Rihanna, or Lady Gaga. But, from the choices, I picked New Kids On The Block/Backstreet Boys. I so loved the boy bands and it was great seeing them again. I loved Hanson too!

Courtney: This category drives me absolutely NUTS because there’s so damn many musical acts each season, and a ridiculous number of write-in votes. People, please – Josh Groban’s name is spelled like that, and there are no alternative spellings. And whoever wrote in “Hanson FTW” – you irk me. 🙂 Echoing John’s sentiments, I’m a little perplexed as to how Adele managed to win this one. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Adele, but she only sang one song (with laryngitis) and was forced to bow out of the second one due to aforementioned laryngitis. It was an ok performance – but not her best. But alas, Adele is popular with our readers – laryngitis or not! I’m with Vogue on this one…I’m such a boy band fangirl, and I’m ridiculously excited to see NKOTBSB here in Indy later this month 😉 I actually thought they put on the best “show” of all the musical acts – you could tell they had put some thought into their performance, and hadn’t just flown in at the last minute and been like “Ok, we’re here, give us some dancers and we’ll do a quick run-through.” Hanson was a nice addition to the performance show – definitely better lead-in music than Harold Wheeler’s many variations on the DWTS theme. I really enjoyed Michael & Delta as well – wish I could say the same for the Black Eyed Peas. But you guys already know how I feel about them – let’s just say I found a very apt comment from someone on Twitter that likened them to a venereal disease. 😉 Jennifer & Toby seemed a little unenthusiastic to me, and I thought Chris Brown did ok given the firestorm surrounding his performance. Rounding out the dreaded write-in category: Josh/Johs/Joe Groban/Grobin/Grodin/etc. (8), David Garrett (3), Katherine Jenkins (1), Pitbull/Neyo/Nayer (1), Selena Gomez (1), Pia Toscano *snicker* (1), and “they all sucked” (1). One performance I kinda wish someone had mentioned – James Blunt. I thought his performance with Val & Daria dancing was one of the most entertaining for me, and seriously – that guy has come a long way since his first album, when he was a total Debbie Downer. Did he get some action or something? The dude has rainbows coming out of his ass these days! 🙂

Marianya: Courtney, Vogue… I guess I’m jumping on that fangirly boyband bandwagon. The most memorable musical act for me was NKOTBSB hands down. I mean it seems like it was prepared and created for the DWTS stage as opposed to just something tossed together or taken from a past tour act, that I likey, I likey a lot.

Heidi: I was inordinately fond of that one Hanson boy’s suspenders. 🙂 I don’t know WHY I like such things or why I get fascinated by them. 🙂 In any case, I found Hanson’s presence on that one performance show lent the show a new and different feel from usual. Now, I think I generally HATE theme nights on principle, but I liked their inclusion and I loved some of the songs they played. I dunno, it was new and different in a way that I liked for a change. 🙂

John: Impossible to decide between Kym, the blonde bombshell with the awesome accent, or the super model with the amazing accent. Does it really matter what they wear or who their partner is? Correct Answer: No.

Vogue: This was a toss up between Hines and Kim or Petra and Dimitry. Both couples always took my breath away. In the end, Kym and Hines got my vote. Not only does Kym have a knack for dancing and teaching, she knows just the right costumes to pull out and when for the most part. They aren’t too gawdy or in your face. They are never ugly or tasteless. They always match the dance which is really important in my opinion. Totally classy all the way.

Courtney: I’d like to say a little prayer of thanks & praise to Our Lady of the Awesome Boobage, because she easily ran away with this title, IMO 😀 Seriously – Kym’s hair, makeup, and costumes were picture-perfect this season, and I think she did a great job of styling Hines well, too. My favorites had to be her quickstep dress (quite possibly my favorite ballgown in the history of the show) and Argentine tango dress (who would have thought thousands of pearls could make a bigger statement than the cliched rhinestones?). I think Kym’s biggest strength in styling both her & her partners is that she knows when to keep it simple – most of her popular costumes are very uncomplicated silhouttes, in flattering colors and textures that compliment the moves of the dances. Wish some more of the female pros would take a page out of her book…you listening, Lacey & Karina? 😉 Petra was a vision in all of her costumes this season – but how couldn’t she be, when she’s such a vision on her own? And a sweetheart to boot…I have to admit, I really liked she & Dmitry together this season, despite thinking I would find them boring. While I don’t think all of Kirstie’s costumes were terribly flattering (still trying to figure out her jive & waltz costumes…), I do think they were memorable and fit the dances well. Thought some of Romeo & Chelsie’s costumes were just lovely – god I loved both their Fred & Ginger-inspired foxtrot costumes, and their Titanic-inspired waltz costumes! Rounding out the write-in category: Ralph & Karina (12), Chelsea & Mark (7), Chris & Cheryl (1), and “No one” (1). Ralph & Karina were kinda hit-or-miss for me – loved their foxtrot costumes, hated their salsa costumes, loved their rumba & waltz costumes, hated their paso doble & quickstep costumes. Karina’s kinda all over the place for me, costume-wise. Looks like Chelsea & Mark are a polarizing couple – people seemed to either really love or hate both their dancing & their costumes! She had a few good ones (foxtrot, cha-cha), but I’m afraid she was overshadowed by the ridiculous ones (paso doble, samba, freestyle). As for Chris & Cheryl – I didn’t really LOVE any of their costumes this season, but I didn’t really hate them, either. They were just…there.

Marianya: Instead of saying “best dressed” I’ll instead say who I think didn’t annoy me with their costumes. In this case it would have to be Petra and Dmitry. However, if we’re measuring the entire course of the show, then of course Hines and Kym. 😀

Heidi: In re-watching the various seasons, I’m continually in awe of the hot blond with the awesome boobage – and I ain’t talkin’ Derek. 🙂 What I can’t figure is why Kym is so under the radar – I guess she’s second only to Derek in the lack of self promotion. It’s like she goes into hiding between seasons…but this girl is just gorgeous!! Inside and out. It’s safe to say I have a straight gurl crush. 🙂 Seriously – two trophies, great record with her partners, gorgeous…and the best dance-face around. Best example is her Team Paso with Warren – fierce. Speaking of Paso Doble’s with Warren – that pleather ensemble and the Matrix tribute dance?? Awesome. This season, I have to go with the quickstep dress -fantastic. She’s my new favorite girl, easily.

Sunday night Mark Ballas will chat with Chris Harrison of TV Guide’s Hollywood 411 about his Emmy nomination. Here is a sneak peak for what’s to come (I wish I could embed it, but, I can’t. You’ll also need a Facebook account to be able to view the video). Note how Chris asks Mark if he could only choose between an Emmy or a Mirror Ball Trophy, which would he choose? Mark chose “Emmy”. Hmmm, makes one wonder if that’s what Mark was going for all along last Season and will more Emmy’s (instead of Mirror Balls) be his goal in the future? If so, how will potential celebrity partners feel about it? If interested in hearing more of this interview, be sure to tune into Hollywood 411 Sunday night at 7pm ET or stay tuned to Pure Dancing With The Stars. We hope to have video coverage of it afterwards as soon as we can.

ADDING: Hollywood 411 has posted the interview finally. Here it is in full in case you missed it (I’m really liking Mark’s HAIR!);

I'm a fashion and music fan....and I have always loved dancing too of any kind. Dancing With The Stars seems to have this way of bringing all of those things together. One of my favorite dancing quotes at the moment: "No matter what, nobody can take away the dance you've already had...." ~Gleb Savchenko . For fun music and dance mixes, visit WilUnleashed Soundcloud. To view my photography site, see Lisa Kay Photography.